Wednesday, July 12, 2006

what was i thinking

i'm not exactly a veggie garden newbie. been doing it for years. whence this amnesia about plant size, every year? why are my plants all crowded together when i have beaucoup space? with the exception of the golden cauliflower in the greenhouse, all of the stuff in our garden was started from seed in small containers and transplanted. they're so small when i transplant them that one foot, 12 measly inches, seems sufficient, even grandiose. they look nice as small plants laid out neatly together.

just look at that poor broccoli struggling to survive with those huge collard greens shading it, and tomatoes close by on the other side.

here's the golden cauliflower and a zucchini beyond, scrunching a poor little basil plant between them. the rest of the green house looks like a jungle. i have to slide carefully by the things spilling out in the aisles.

broccoli on the left. each plant probably wants easily twice as much space as it has. and how do i expect to have onions develop big bulbs, or whatever the term is, when planted an inch apart. oh yeah, the rows are far enough apart, but the plants in each row are far too close.

tomatoes. three brandywine and four oregon extra early in the space that one, yes one, plant would occupy. the stakes are purely ornamental so far, as i have not gotten round to tying the plants to them. if i don't get to it soon the tomatoes will fall over and sprawl everywhere. not that i'm a strict tomato disciplinarian, but they do produce more fruit (fruits?) if they are pinched back.

kale and collard greens (how many greens can two people eat?) stuffed together. at least these plants will thrive anyway, not requiring room for flowers.

aha!! squash hills six (6') apart. they look lonely now. in a month, if it goes well, they will likely be crowding each other.

even my reckless disregard for plant spacing has not deterred the plants from providing us with provender. we have been eating zucchini, broccoli, beets, lettuce, mesclun (a mix of salad greens), carrots, onions, artichokes, basil, raspberries, kale, collard, snow peas (very prolific plants), garlic (we spaced that right, i had robin's help, and to give her credit where due, she did warn me about that basil plant in the greenhouse)..